Police have dropped their investigation into Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg’s alleged comments made to Chelsea players John Obi Mikel and Juan Mata because there was no evidence anything illegal happened and no victim had come forward.

Chelsea lodged an official complaint to the Football Association on October 31, following their 3-2 loss to Manchester United on October 28, deciding the most appropriate body to deal with the issue was the game’s PL’s executive.

The police report was made by the Society of Black Lawyers, independent of Chelsea players or the club.

A Metropolitan Police statement yesterday said: "Inquiries were made and no victims have come forward. The matter will remain as a recorded incident.

"Without a victim and/or any evidence that any offence has been committed, the matter cannot currently be investigated.

"If the situation changes and a victim and/or evidence to support an allegation of a crime comes to police attention, then further inquiries will, if appropriate, be made."

Clattenburg has denied from the outset that he didn’t use racially insulting words or “inappropriate language”.

The referees' union has backed their man, but Clattenburg has still been stood down from matches for what will be three weekends after he wasn’t named again for this week’s fixtures.

The referee of the Olympic final and highly regarded internationally, he returned to training on Monday with the Select Group of referees for the first time since the alleged incident.

The FA is keen to complete its investigation quickly after the dragging out of the John Terry saga, which ended in the player being cleared of criminal charges but handed a four-match ban for racist abuse.